After Everything
by FearlessAndRed
Summary: Joy tells Mara that Jerome has cheated on her with Willow, but instead of planning revenge on Jerome, Mara talks to him.


**_Author's Note_**

_Thank you for reading this despite my continued unreliability to update my multi-chapter stories. After this, I have another short story like this one to write and upload, and then I hope to continue updating 'House of Mara's Trouble's, which I then hope to finish so I can go onto finish 'The Way They Were' and 'I Think it's Best if We Both Stay'. Again, thank you for still reading my writing even though I don't upload new chapters often enough. Thank you for your reviews, follows and favourites and I hope you enjoy this story. It is set in Season 3, but with a little difference to how things actually happened in the show._

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**_Disclaimer_**

_I do not own House of Anubis._

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It was three hours after the end of that school day. It was three hours after Joy had told Mara that Jerome had cheated on her with Willow. Joy had sat Mara down on the stage in the Drama room and explained. Mara had said she needed time to be by herself and she'd been sitting there ever since, staring at the wall opposite. It had begun to get dark but Mara didn't feel like moving. She held her hands in her lap.

She hadn't cried yet, and was wondering when she would when the door to the room opened. Jerome walked in and sighed when he saw her sitting there, then walked over to stand in front of her. Mara suddenly looked down at her hands, she couldn't look at him. She could have sworn that she knew who Jerome was, but now there was this new fact about him that didn't fit in with what she had known and it confused her and looking at him just made it worse.

"So, Joy told you." Jerome said. Mara continued to look down at her hands, not saying anything. Jerome pressed his lips together and glanced up at the ceiling, running his hands through his hair. He was scared, really terrified. More scared than he had ever been in any of those life-threatening situations 'Sibuna' had thrown at him. He hadn't realised what he was doing with Willow, he hadn't thought any of it through, at all.

"Mara, please, can I just talk to you?" He asked, his voice breaking slightly, which made Mara look up.

Mara was crying now, it was his voice that had started it. It hadn't yet escalated into full sobing, but the tears were steadily tumbling down her face. Jerome wanted to get closer to her, hold her, make her feel better, but he knew she wouldn't let him. And he couldn't stand the fact that it was his fault she looked the way she did, so hurt.

"What can you possibly have to say that will make things okay?" Mara asked, voice trembling. "I mean, sure, go ahead, talk to me. But do you honestly think that there is anything you can say that will put everything back to how it was before this? That will make you still you and not this... this person that I don't know?" Mara gestured towards him.

"No... No, there probably isn't any way to fix this so that it feels the way it did before, but if I don't try then I will hate myself more than I do already. And you do know me, Mara. I'm still me, I just-"

"No." Mara glared at him. "_No_. You are _not_ still you. Before, you changed for the better. But now, you've gone and changed for the worse and I can't even recognise you. Because _you_ would not do this to me! The you I know would want to hurt anybody who ever did this to me!" She turned to look out of the window, pressing her lips together to stop her bottom lip from trembling.

"I do, Mara." He took a small step towards her. "I do want to hurt the person who did this to you. Right now, I can't stand myself for making you hurt so much."

Mara's head whipped round to look at him. "And what about Willow? How do you feel about what you did to her?"

Jerome met her eyes. "I feel just as terrible, especially since I now realise what I felt for her wasn't the same as what I feel for you. And so I led her on for nothing and I hurt her for nothing. I feel so bad that I did that, but it's different for her than you. It's not any better, but it is different. She hasn't spent so much time on it and because of that, for her it's more like she was too busy looking at the sky to notice the stone on the floor that consequently tripped her up, but she got up straight afterwards. In fact, I bet Alfie probably helped her get up. But you..."

Mara watched him as he took another step closer. As she had been listening to him, she had stopped crying so much, her tears now reduced to the occasional drop slowly falling down her cheek. Jerome and Mara were quite close to each other now, he stood just in front of her knees. He could see all the details of her bloodshot eyes.

"For you," Jerome spoke quietly, softly, "it's like you've been walking for miles and miles to get to where you want to be, only to find a cliff edge when you get there. And you've fallen off the cliff edge, Mara, and it's me who pushed you, I know, but please, _please_ let me catch you."

"Jerome," Mara sighed. He watched her carefully. "It's just... This is so... difficult. You seem sorry enough now, but what if I forgive you, and let myself think I know and understand you, and you just go and do it again?" Jerome began to say something but she stopped him. "No, just let me talk, just... Let me get my thoughts together." Jerome nodded and stepped back slightly.

Mara sat for a minute then stood up on the stage. She turned and took a couple of steps towards the back of the stage. She began to speak, turning around as she did so. "I thought I knew you before, but then you cheated on me with Willow and that has thrown my whole persepective of you out of kilt." She looked him right in the eye as she spoke and suddenly felt the anger rebuild up inside her as she looked at his guilt-ridden eyes.

"Jerome, I don't understand. I can't... comprehend that this has happened. It doesn't seem to fit because... After everything we went through, after everything we have done together, after all that time spent on this, after every single moment that I thought was _special_, I cannot comprehend that you would just throw that all away. And you didn't just throw it all away, no, you threw what we had on the floor and then smashed your foot down on it and then, just to make sure it really was ruined beyond repair, you _burnt_ it.

"I thought we were finally on the same page. I thought we both felt the same way. But of course, as per usual, I was wrong. I'm still poor, little, naive Mara who never gets it right and never gets to be happy.

"I love you, of course I do, because up until a few hours ago I was under the impression that you and I were loyal to each other, that I could trust you without my heart falling apart. But I was stupid to tell you so, to tell you that I love you, and stupid enough to not realise that there was a reason you didn't say it back."

They stared at each other.

"I should have." Jerome said. "I should have told you that I love you, and the reason that I didn't wasn't because I don't, it was because I suddenly had this fear that reminded me of how I felt before you helped change me for the better. How I felt when my parents just left me to rot and I felt that I wasn't worth anything and I didn't deserve anyone. And I thought suddenly that I didn't deserve you. So I didn't say it back because I thought something might take you away from me because someone, somewhere, realised I wasn't worthy of you. And I cheated on you because, I guess, subconsciously I thought it would be less painful to force you away from me than to have you taken away. And I'm asking for your forgiveness because, I've now realised that I shouldn't have forced you away for my sake, I should have fought to keep you for both of our sakes. Because I love you, Mara."

Mara's legs suddenly couldn't hold her up and she fell to her knees. She held a hand in front of her mouth as she started to sob. Jerome leapt onto the stage and knelt by her. Mara put her hands in her lap again and looked up at Jerome through tear-filled eyes.

"You..." She paused to sniff and wiped away some of her tears. "You get another chance."

Jerome felt his heart lift with relief and his face lit up. He tried to speak, but found he couldn't so he simply wrapped his arms around Mara and kissed the top of her head when she leant into his chest. He could still feel her shaking slightly and could tell she was still crying, so he held her tightly as he resolved never to let himself do anything as stupid as to let her go again.

"I'm sorry." He said when he found his voice, and he said it again and again and again until she looked up at him and put a finger to his lips.

"I know." She said, managing a small smile. "But don't you forget it."

"I will never forget this." He promised.


End file.
